Scryer (18 page)

I didn’t want to hear any more. I put my
finger to his lips. “Stop. Let’s just sleep here, right now, and pretend that
everything’s perfect. We can face reality tomorrow, but for now…”

He kissed me again. “I understand,” he
whispered.

Lake
was gone when I woke up and his side of the bed was cold. Pulling the sheet
around me to cover my nudity, I walked to the window, stepping over the stain
on the floor. The stain that I had caused as a murderess.

And it didn’t bother me. Was that
Dorothea’s influence again? The thought was unsettling, yet at the same time,
it was like a part of my conscience was frozen. I knew right from wrong, and to
murder Dorothea in her form as a helpless, defenseless hag was definitely wrong,
yet part of me just didn’t care.

The snowfall was heavy outside, yet scryers
still moved about, ready to get in their cars and begin the drive down the
treacherous mountain roads in this weather just to get away from here. From
this distance, I couldn’t tell if I knew any of them. I probably did, but I had
rarely bothered with them before.

More disturbing, was the nagging
question that wouldn’t leave my mind. Had Lake gone to one of them in the night
to get the answers that he had failed to receive from me after our lovemaking?
Had he used that skillful tongue and mouth on another young body and made her
cry out in ecstasy before secrets pulsed from her mouth?

The jealousy within me made me seethe.
But again, was that my jealousy or was that Dorothea’s bad taking over? Was it
her insane desire to have a Corin love her that had etched itself into me? Had
it infected the blood that no longer pumped around my body?

Frustration seared through me, and I
sucked in deep breaths to get myself under control. Then I spotted the candle.
It was ordinary and white, sitting in a silver candlestick holder. That
innocent thing got all of my frustration. I channeled it away from my body, and
it funneled through into the wick, creating an enormous flame that leapt up
toward the ceiling, licking at the wood. I pulled it back with ease, making it
reduce to nothing left but melted wax and the smell of smoke.

A laugh escaped me. So not everything
had been taken from me, after all. The joy I felt was intense—if I had fire
then I had power. I laughed again, a crazy laugh, a Dorothea cackle. The door
swung open and I stopped and shut my mouth.

Lake walked in and closed the door
behind him, before carefully sitting beside me.

“Where have you been?” I asked him. I
poured the wine that Felix had left for both of us

“Working.”

“Conniving, scheming, crushing everyone
else…”

His lips flicked up into a smile and he
shrugged. “Paint it however you like. I get results and that’s what matters.”
But as he took hold of his glass, the telltale whiteness of his knuckles told
me that he held that glass harder than he needed to.

I sipped my own wine. “I’m not judging
you.”

He sighed. “Yeah, you are. Look, I
didn’t meet with any of the scryers last night. Is that what’s bothering you?”

I opened my mouth to deny it but then shut
it again. It was the truth, but staying silent was easier than saying it out
loud. His eyes were still on me, and I had to look away.

“Ivy, look at me.” I swallowed and
managed to look him in the eye.

“I won’t fuck it up with you this time.”
His jaw was rigid, showing his determination. “I won’t let anything get in the
way of us. That’s a promise.”

“But if you don’t use us, won’t you be
usurped? Won’t others take over your position?” My voice was almost panicked at
the thought and I didn’t know why, but then it occurred to me that I now had
Dorothea’s ambition.

He sighed and downed his wine. “I have others
who are loyal to me but…I haven’t figured out what to do yet. I need that
information, Ivy. I hate the thought of being with someone other than you, but
what choice do I have? I’m not stupid. There are those who would throw me to
the wolves at the first opportunity.” He touched his forehead; his young skin
was creased with stress and worry. I couldn’t help it. I went to him and
carefully sat on his knee, his arms went around me and he pulled me against
him, resting his head against my breast.

I knew what to do. Dorothea’s influence
had turned me ruthless and selfish. “You’ll find one scryer. Someone young and
dumb who thinks that she loves you and will willingly come to you whenever you
please. It won’t be hard. Women are drawn to the rich and handsome.” I stroked
his hair, amazed at how cold and compassionless my voice sounded, but it didn’t
stop me. “Use her as you like but you will always come back to me.” I cupped my
hands around his cheeks and forced him to look at me.

“Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely.

“Yes. Now, there is no time for
something so insignificant. We have enemies to hunt down and kill.” I leaned
forward and planted a cold kiss on his lips. “Plus, you have one more asset
that makes it so no one’s going to fuck with you.”

“What’s that?”

My lips curved into a smile. “You’ll
have wife who can make fire,” I whispered.

 I married in red. Not scryer red, but
the dark, nearly black, red of blood that was no longer of any consequence to
me. I made a fine bride. My gown was simple with an empire waist and my hair
was twisted into coils and pulled on top of my head. Around my neck, however, a
fire of diamonds glittered just below the twisted and grotesque scarring. Not
like a collar or any sign of slavery, no, that was for others now. The
decadence of that jewelry marked Lake and I as a power couple.

No one fucked with us.

There was only one who dared to sneer
and try to put me in my place, and he ended up with a fiery death, screaming
until the tongue burned from his body. At the mountain estate, we wed in front
of every member of the Circle whom we deemed suitable to witness our union. I
even invited Lake’s scryer. She was prettier than I would have liked, but she
was acceptable and bland. She accepted her lot in life and her intense
attachment to Lake meant that he could use her for information whenever we
chose. That attachment that she had for him also meant that I could choke down
the guilt; I could pretend that she was not forced, and that she had chosen
this life.

The Circle enjoyed their rituals. The
wedding ceremony took place in a dark chapel in the mansion. Intricately carved
wooden pews and ornate stained glass windows depicting grotesque scenes made
the atmosphere creepy and ominous. The ceremony ended with the pricking of our
thumbs so our blood fell into a crystal glass of dark wine. I took the needle
and plunged it into Lake’s flesh so a dark drop welled to the surface,
trickling down to fall into the waiting glass. As this occurred, I had a memory
come to me, of Michael’s blood falling into a glass while his bride waited. I
could feel her anxiety and excitement as she waited for this last final task
that would bind this powerful man to her and propel her upwards in the ranks.

I shook my head, trying to force the
memory away. More and more often, flashes of Dorothea’s life would come to me
as if they were my own memories.

“Are you okay?” Lake whispered.

“Yeah.” I offered him the needle and my
own hand that he took gently, pressing the sharp point into my thumb. The blood
failed to appear, and he pressed harder, but still there was nothing. He raised
his eyes to me.

“You don’t bleed any longer?” he said in
a low voice so no one else could hear.

“I’m your corpse bride, remember,” I
whispered back.

He gave a nod, and then said to the
officiator. “It’s done.”

The man frowned. “I didn’t see—”

“I
said
that’s it done,” Lake
repeated.

The man snapped his head up straight.
“Of course.” He managed to smile before announcing to the guests that we were
now man and wife. There was clapping as Lake leaned into kiss me. I should have
been happy; I should have been elated to be wed to the man I loved…

But the nagging thought kept coming to
me. Did I really love him now or was it Dorothea’s influence. I had loved him
prior. Of that, there was no doubt in my mind, yet he had used me and lied to
me. Still, he invaded my every thought, and I wanted to be with him all the
time, in spite of everything.

After we broke the kiss, he smiled and
whispered in my ear, “I have a wedding gift for you. I think that you’ll like
it.”

He took my hand, letting his thumb rub
over the band of ruby and diamonds that I now wore to mark me as his, before
leading me down the aisle. The crowd followed us out, and we began to walk down
the hillside. The snow had disappeared now and grass and flowers were beginning
to sprout and replenish the landscape. The sun was warm on my face and it occurred
to me that I was odd and out of place, something dead walking amongst the life-giving
properties of spring. I thought of myself as being a dark blemish of red
carving into the land like a scar.

All my musings stopped as we arrived at
the beginning of a small valley and my eyes widened. The sight that was there
was far more of a blemish on the landscape than I could ever be. They wore
white robes that swayed in the gentle breeze. Their bodies twisted and
struggled against the bindings that lashed them to the giant pyre. There were
ten of them—all men, but I could not see Caleb amongst them.

I looked to Lake. He was watching me
with interest.

“Where did you find them?” I asked as he
led me down the grassy slope.

“I used other witches to track them. It
took a long time, but I found these ones, the leaders. They are all that really
matters.”

When we reached the flat, Lake turned me
toward him and kissed me. “They need to be destroyed,” he murmured against my
skin.

“I know.”

I felt exhilaration run through me, as
if my heart that no longer beat had begun to throb and pump. Dorothea again…or
was it?

I turned to the men who all glared down
at me. They had very little fear in their eyes. All they had was utter hatred.
They way that they looked at me made me want to take a step back and hide from
their gaze.

But instead, I raised my head and high
and looked at them one by one. I recognized Caleb’s father instantly. He had
the same good looks, and arrogance poured off of him in waves despite his
precarious situation.

I stepped closer to him. “Where is
Caleb?”

He looked down at me with narrowed eyes,
and then burst out into laughter. I stayed still, even though his reaction
riled me and I felt Lake shift beside me, but I squeezed his hand to let him
know that it was all right.

“What gives you the right to ask?” the
man said, still grinning. “You’re the scrying whore whom my son defied his
blood for. I’ll give you
nothing.
”

Lake moved again, but I held his hand
even tighter.

“Where is your son now? Did you kill
him?” I asked smoothly.

The man’s smile widened. “He loved you,
but did you love him?  I had wondered, but now I know…”

“You know nothing,” I said succinctly
and coldly. I felt Lake’s rigidity beside me and he dropped my hand. I wanted
to look at him, to touch his face and tell him that what the man said wasn’t
true, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

The man laughed.

Kill him,
hissed a voice
in my head.
Kill him, burn him now!
I could just see Dorothea’s wicked
mouth chanting those commands. That, combined, with the coldness emanating from
Lake, made me act.

I gave the grinning white witch my own
most charming smile. “I want to burn your son as well,” I lied, hoping that
Lake would be placated. “No witch is a good witch.”

He started to retort but I didn’t give
him a chance. The flame whooshed up with no warning, flickering high past the
top of the pyre and the screams began.

I turned to Lake and offered my hand.
“Shall we go? We have a marriage to consummate.”

He paused for an instant, and then
accepted my hand, enclosing it tightly in his as we walked back to the mansion
in silence. No one followed us. They all knew better.

Neither of us spoke as we walked up the
curving staircase to our bedroom. Once I had walked up those stairs as a slave,
now I was the queen. Once the door was safely closed, I stood before Lake in my
red dress as he sat on the bed and looked up at me.

 “You know,” he said softly.

I stepped closer to him and cupped his
face in my hands. “It is not true, what he said. I love you. I always have. In
spite of everything, I am by your side, and—” I stopped, not sure if I should
go on.

“What is it? Tell me?”

I took a breath. “And, I have Dorothea
in me. I have her ambition, her lust for power. I can feel those desires in my
bones. There is no other choice for me but a life in which I can satiate those
desires. Do you understand? When you had me brought back to life by using her
energy, these things were implanted within me. To me, it is fate that we are
together and there is no other choice. I love you.
Everything
about you,
and I hate to admit it, but that’s because of
her
attributes.”

I kissed him hard with those last words,
and he reciprocated just as viciously. Our teeth hit and our arms came around
each other, fingers curving deep into each other’s flesh. I tried to climb on
top of him, but he swung me around, so I was on the bottom and trapped beneath
him. He showed me his teeth in a triumphant smile, and then with two hands,
grabbed the delicate fabric of my dress and pulled at the stitching so it
ripped down the middle, exposing me in my sheer bra and panties. They ripped
too, exciting me even more, and I felt myself practically drenched between my
legs as he pushed into me, smooth against my moisture.

“Tell me again,” he grunted as he
withdrew, and then thrust violently into me.

“I love you,” I cried out, curving my
legs around him to pull him in deeper. I cried it out every time he pounded
into me; every time until I could barely speak and any attempt at words turned
to a moaning as he brought me closer and closer to cumming. I closed my eyes
and rode out my orgasm with his mouth on mine. I had never felt so close to
anyone like this before.

He moved off me, panting hard as we both
finished, collapsing down beside me, exhausted. I turned to him. “This is fate.
It has to be,” I whispered.

He gave me a lazy grin. “Fate, Ivy Corin.
I like that.”

He held me until he fell asleep, and then
I extricated myself from him and covered him with a sheet. I walked over to the
window. In the distance, the pyre burned low, an awful reminder of an awful
act.

But it was necessary. I had to hurt
those who wished me harm, and the white witches had. Furthermore, if they were to
destroy the Circle, then that would involve destroying Lake. There was no way
that I would ever let that happen. After all, I was now practically a queen.
Power was mine, even if it was distasteful at times. I had risen high, and I
wasn’t about to let that go.

Slowly, I closed the drapes and walked
back to where my husband lay, peacefully asleep. Gently, I kissed him on the
cheek.

“Good night, my love,” I whispered.

Then I took a robe and wrapped it around
my nakedness. I was undisturbed as I made my way from the bedroom and down the
staircase. Dim lamps flickered around the enormous house, casting just enough
light for me to make my way unhindered outside. A hazy smoke sat still and the
putrid scent of burned flesh lingered. It was in that direction that I set off.
The cold did not bother me, and my skin did not react with goosebumps or
shivering as if it would if I truly lived. I moved silently across grass and
down the uneven terrain back toward the pyre that I had lit and the men whom I
had killed.

There was nothing left of them now but
ash, and by morning that ash would be spread across the countryside until
nothing more remained.

However, there was one of the living in
my valley of death. Caleb was on his knees in front of the pyre with his head
bowed as if in prayer. His head jerked up as he sensed my arrival.

“It’s only me.”

He got to his feet. “You live.” In the
darkness, I couldn’t tell if his eyes held a haunted and tormented look.

I gave a small laugh. “Not really. Blood
no longer pumps around my body and my heart no longer beats. I have no hunger
and don’t feel the cold, yet I do feel love. That must count for something.”

Caleb gave a small nod. “You love him
then, the Circle leader?”

“I always did,” I said simply.

Another nod but this time he stayed
silent.

I raised my head. “I killed your father.
I thought that you should know. I burned him and he screamed terribly.”

“I know. I can sense him. His spirit had
gone into the land. You should be careful. Murdered witches carry curses
against those who wronged them.”

I shrugged. “I’ve carried curses for
most of my life. What’s one more?”

“I have something for you.” He swung his
backpack from his shoulder and reached into it. I recognized it instantly even
with just the light of moon. It was the box that had been given to me by Lake.

I took it, running my hand over the wood
lovingly. “Thank you. This means a lot to me.”

He leaned in a gently kissed me on the
cheek. “Good bye, Ivy. Take care.”

“You too, Caleb.”

He began to walk away, then stopped and
quickly swung back to face me. “Is this really what you want? A life with one
of
them?
They kill and they destroy. There’s nothing healthy about them.”

“You’re telling me nothing new,” I said
quietly.

He shook his head at me. “Then come with
me, come away from here. We can start our lives fresh somewhere new, far away
from magic and family curses.” He held out his hand toward me. I looked at it
and felt my own hand twitch, but kept it at my side.

“It’s my fate to be with him. I can feel
it in my bones.”

His forehead creased. “What if you
become like them?”